


I Love You Like Weathering Wood

by galfridian



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 14:06:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galfridian/pseuds/galfridian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Filling the gap between the end of the war and the happily ever afters. Harry has Hermione and Ron; Ginny has Luna and Neville.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Love You Like Weathering Wood

And it's strange: she's never dreamt of Voldemort, of Riddle, until now. He's ash, spread across ocean and land. And yet.

In Ginny's head, in her nightmares, he _screams_. It's Voldemort's voice screaming, sometimes laughing, and it's Riddle's eyes watching her. In the dream, she runs, but he finds her.

They're empty, Ginny and Harry, two people poured out into a war. Together, they fill only space, but not each other. Ginny knows this will pass, that the nightmares will ebb, that she'll see light in Harry's eyes again. That he'll see hope in hers. But now...Now, Harry has nightmares too, and he has nothing to give her. And because Ginny loves Harry, because he has given her and everyone else freedom, she doesn't resent him.

But she can't fill him, not yet, and she _needs_. Every night he stays up with Hermione and Ron until dawn, the three of them reliving trolls in the girls' loo, schoolgirl and schoolboy crushes, mending wounds with bandages of memories. So every night, Ginny goes to the Longbottoms'. 

Neville's gran is gone now; the house is his. He thinks she waited for the war to end, waited to know he was safe, before she let go. Luna is always there before her, boiling water for tea and telling him Muggle fairytales, and Neville's eyes follow her. around the room. When Ginny arrives, they have tea and honor the dead, swapping memories. Each night is a different person. The tea goes cold, light spills into the windows, and Ginny returns home to see Harry to bed. Luna is still there when she leaves.

In bed next to Harry, with the sun beating down on them, Ginny drifts in and out of sleep, her head filled with the monster Harry destroyed. When she wakes, it's mid-afternoon, and mum's brought biscuits and milk. This quiet hour before dusk is the best time Ginny and Harry have together these days. Too soon, Harry follows Ron and Hermione into the sunset, and Ginny Disapparates.

 

Tonight, Luna isn't there. It's nearly dark now, but the lights haven't been switched on. Neville's got the tea ready, two cups across the table from each other. "Luna?" Ginny asks.

"I asked her to give us an hour. To talk." Neville sits at the chair closest to the backdoor, gesturing for her to sit at the place across from him. He sips his tea and waits. Neville is maddening like this, all patience and calm. Harry is impatient and passionate, and it drives Ginny mad, but at least she knows what he's thinking. She doesn't know what Neville is expecting, what he wants to know.

But of course, that's her answer: He isn't asking because it's her choice; he isn't asking because he wants to know everything. "Remember in November? You asked if I ever had nightmares?"

Neville nods. "You said, yes, of the Basilisk, of the things you did, of the Chamber of Secrets. But never of him. That's changed?"

"Since that first night. He's screaming or laughing or both. And Hogwarts is burning. Every time, it's worse. He's louder and closer, and there's less and less of Hogwarts left."

"He's gone, Ginny."

"I know that," she snaps. Neville looks away, something dark and sad in his eyes. "I know," she repeats, softer. "I'm sorry. It's just...sometimes, I think he'll use me to come back."

The dark, sad thing has gone from Neville's eyes. "He won't. He _can’t_. It isn't just the body that's gone, it's every piece of him."

"I know, but." The word stick in her throat, and she hasn't been this way since Christmas, so unable to let it all go. She misses the Room of Requirement, sharing a hammock with Neville, listening to Luna singing sweet little stories to the younger children. And quite suddenly, Ginny longs desperately to curl into him again, to take in his warmth and quiet strength. "Neville," she tries, but his name is lost in the scraping of chairs as they stand together and move toward each other. They sidestep the table, meet in the middle, all but colliding. Her mouth will bruise from the force that it meets his with, and she scrapes her hand on a splintering edge of the table, and they nearly fall over. And they've never done this before, mouths and hands roaming wherever, shuffling to the closest piece of furniture (a long, ancient couch in the next room), clothes trailing behind them.

"Ginny," he breathes against her breasts, kissing her fiercely, touching her delicately. She pulls him to her and presses everything from her mind but him.

 

They lie there after, tucked against each other on the couch. She can almost imagine the sway of the hammock. Her eyes grow heavy and she drifts, dreaming of Harry's laughter and sun-drenched tomorrows. The cries of a kettle bring Ginny back to Neville. She finds he's still beside her, waking as well.

They dress together, following the trail of clothes to the kitchen. Luna waits, pouring hot water into three cups. As Neville buttons his shirt, Luna's eyes meet Ginny's. Luna smiles in that way only she can, as though discovering proof of the many fantastic things she believes in. Whatever Neville and Luna feel for each other, they know they're incomplete without Ginny, just as Ron and Hermione are incomplete without Harry.

 

Luna gently pulls the tangles from Ginny's hair, Neville turns on the lights. Tonight, they share memories of each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Written several years ago for a comment ficathon.


End file.
